Since the mid-1970s, the janitorial industry has focused on one objective: cutting costs. This created a race to the bottom, an environment where workers are cheated of legal wages and exposed to unsafe working conditions, and responsible law-abiding employers are pushed out by lawbreaking competitors.
In response to the exponential rise in unfair competition, law-abiding contractors realized they needed to do more to protect their right to a fair marketplace. In 1999, they partnered with SEIU Local 1877, the California janitors’ union, to establish the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund (MCTF). Throughout our history, the MCTF has fought to combat the underground economy, level the playing field, and protect workers.
When contractors violate employment law, all parties involved—janitors, subcontractors, contractors, building owners, and tenants—are at physical and financial risk.
Key Victories:
2000: An MCTF investigation of contractors who provided cleaning services to the largest grocery chains statewide lead to a class-action lawsuit by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) against the prime contractor, Vons, Ralphs, Albertsons, Safeway and Pavilions for labor violations. The suit settles for $22.4 million in 2005.
2004: An MCTF investigation resulted in the U.S. Department of Labor reaches a $1.9 million settlement with a Target contractor after finding that the contractor had not paid overtime to 775 immigrant janitors who often worked seven nights a week.
2007: California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet and the Attorney General’s Office sue Excell Cleaning and Building Services and Mo’s Restaurant Cleaning Services after MCTF works with janitors to file complaints against them for sub-minimum wages, nonpayment of overtime and double time, failure to provide rest and meal periods, failure to provide itemized wage statement and issuing insufficient payroll checks.
2008: California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet seeks $1.8 million in damages from Tidy Building Services Inc. on behalf of more than 100 employees plus payment of civil penalties to the State following an MCTF investigation.
2009: The California Labor Commission seeks $7.4 million in damages from Corporate Building Services and its subcontractors after the MCTF uncovered that their janitors worked an average of 12-14 hours a day for as little as $4.62 per hour with no overtime or double-time.
2009: Janitorial companies Excell Cleaning and Building Services Inc. and M.O. Restaurant Cleaning of California Inc. ordered to pay more than $13.6 million after janitors filed cases against them evading payroll taxes and failing to pay minimum wage and overtime for approximately 300 California janitorial workers.
2014: California Labor Commissioner Julie Su fines more than $1.5 million to two janitorial companies, NLP Janitorial, Inc. and Coast to Coast West, Inc., for multiple wage theft violations after MCTF brought the case to their attention.
2015: With MCTF’s backing, the Fair Day’s Pay Act passes making owners, directors, officers personally liable unpaid wages and certain labor law violations.
2016: The owners of janitorial company Good Neighbor Services face criminal prosecution and pay over $5 million restitution for insurance fraud and tax evasion after an MCTF investigation exposed systemic wage theft, tax, and worker’s compensation fraud.
2017: With MCTF’s support, California’s Property Service Workers Protection Act passes requiring all janitorial contractors to register with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office.
2018: California Labor Commissioner Julie Su fines both Superior Grocers and its janitorial subcontractor more than $100,000 each for failing to purchase workers’ compensation insurance as a result of an MCTF case.
2018: As the result of an MCTF case, the Cheesecake Factory chain is found jointly liable with a janitorial contractor for wage theft violations totaling $4.2 million in the largest wage theft citation of its kind.